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Tristan Luneau

Pacific Notes: Moore, Wennberg, Lombardi

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The Anaheim Ducks’ AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls, today signed defenseman Ian Moore to an amateur tryout, per a team announcement. Moore spent four seasons playing collegiately at Harvard University. At the ivy-league school, Moore put up 56 points in 122 games and the 6’3, 200-pound defender was named team captain the last two seasons. He was drafted by the Ducks in the third round of the 2020 draft. With his college career over, Moore immediately becomes one of the franchise’s top defensive prospects, along with Tarin Smith, who has scored 58 points in 63 WHL games this season, and Tristan Luneau, who has scored 42 points in 46 AHL games.

More from the Pacific:

  • San Jose Sharks’ veteran forward Alexander Wennberg is a game-time decision for tomorrow’s game, per Bay Area News Group’s Curtis Pashelka. Pashelka goes on to note that there is optimism he will be able to suit up. In 64 games this season, the 30-year-old Wennberg has put up 31 points. Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky added that the injury is something Wennberg has been dealing with for some time. Wennberg had been serving in a bottom-six role until the trade of Mikael Granlund to the Stars in February. Wennberg has since been serving as the team’s second-line center. He has one year remaining on his two year, $10MM AAV contract he signed last July.
  • On Monday, the Los Angeles Kings honored former president and GM Dean Lombardi, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. After his first stint as a general manager fizzled out with the Sharks, Lombardi oversaw tremendous success in his time in LA, which resulted in two Stanley Cup winning teams. Lombardi saw success in developing draft picks (perhaps most notably with Drew Doughty) but also made aggressive trades for veterans like Mike Richards and Jeff Carter. Since being let go by the team in 2017, Lombardi has served as an executive with the Flyers. During Monday’s celebration, as Friedman notes, Lombardi took time to state that he believes the game is getting too expensive for some children to play. He called it a “grassroots problem” that excludes some athletes from being able to pick up the game.

Ducks Reassign Tristan Luneau

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The Ducks announced Friday that they sent defenseman Tristan Luneau down to AHL San Diego. The move opens up a roster spot, one they’ll need to take goaltender John Gibson off injured reserve when he’s fully recovered from his preseason appendectomy surgery.

Gibson’s return is likely imminent, but even without the roster math, Luneau heading down to the minors is likely best for the blueliner’s development. The 20-year-old played in Anaheim’s first five games of the season but has been a healthy scratch in four out of the last five. He’s averaged 16:33 of ice time through six total appearances, posting a -5 rating, nine blocks, and five hits.

A 2022 second-round pick, Luneau cracked the Ducks’ opening night roster last season. He made just seven appearances through the first couple of months, also spending some time in San Diego on a conditioning stint before being loaned to Team Canada for the 2024 World Juniors. He never got to suit up in the tournament, though. He developed a viral infection shortly after joining the national junior team that sidelined him for the remainder of the 2023-24 season.

Now fully healthy, the 2022-23 QMJHL Defenseman of the Year can get his development back on track. The 6’1″ right-shot defenseman was dominant in his junior career, totaling 144 points and a +53 rating in 159 appearances for the Gatineau Olympiques from 2020 to 2023. In 13 total NHL appearances over the past two seasons, he has a goal and two assists with a -4 rating. With Luneau on the ice at even strength, the Ducks have controlled 46.3% of shot attempts. In his short time with San Diego last season, he had two assists in six games.

His entry-level contract didn’t go into effect last season because he didn’t play 10 NHL games. That means he’s still got two seasons left on his deal after this one and won’t be a restricted free agent until 2027.

CHL Roundup: Luneau, Kressler, Vilmanis, Bloom, Peddle

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Trade deadlines are drawing near for all three of the Canadian Hockey League sub-outfits: the OHL, QMHJL and WHL. That’s resulted in some notable moves surrounding NHL-affiliated players in recent days, including the WHL’s Wenatchee Wild shipping out their superstar duo of Sabres prospect Matthew Savoie (2022, ninth overall) and Coyotes prospect Conor Geekie (2022, 11th overall) to the Moose Jaw Warriors and Swift Current Broncos, respectively. There’s been a handful of other notable moves, too, though, which we’ll outline here:

  • After winning the Emile Bouchard Trophy for the QMJHL’s Defenseman of the Year last season, Ducks prospect Tristan Luneau has played sparingly in 2023-24 despite making the NHL roster out of camp. He’s appeared in just seven games with the Ducks – still yet to burn the first year of his entry-level contract almost halfway through the season. Luneau’s also played six games with AHL San Diego on a conditioning stint and has been on loan to Team Canada for the recently wrapped-up 2024 IIHF World Junior Championship. However, a viral infection sidelined Luneau for the whole tournament, and he has yet to be recalled from his loan. That’s led to some speculation that the Ducks may return him to junior hockey when he’s healed from his infection, fuelled further today by the Victoriaville Tigres acquiring his rights from the Gatineau Olympiques for a conditional fifth-round pick in the 2024 QMJHL Draft. The 53rd overall pick in the 2022 NHL Entry Draft had a banner year with Gatineau last season, leading the league in assists (63) and points (83) by a defenseman in 65 games while notching a +49 rating.
  • 21-year-old Maple Leafs center prospect Braeden Kressler is on the move in the OHL, heading from the Flint Firebirds to the Ottawa 67’s to close out his overage season. Kressler was not picked up in the 2021 NHL Draft after the OHL suspended operations that season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but he earned a training camp invite with Toronto later that summer which resulted in an entry-level contract. Kressler had a disappointing post-draft season marred by injury with just 16 points in 28 games during the 2021-22 campaign, but he’s since rebounded to put up over a point per game in Flint since the beginning of last season while serving as an alternate captain. Thus far in 2023-24, Kressler has 15 goals and 37 points in 33 games, good enough to tie for the Firebirds’ lead in scoring.
  • Shortly after repping Latvia at the World Juniors, Panthers forward prospect Sandis Vilmanis is heading from the OHL’s Sarnia Sting to the North Bay Battalion. The Panthers’ 2022 fifth-round pick is still 19 years old and just rattled off four points in five games for Latvia at the WJC, making himself just one of two players on the roster to score twice. Only four out of 20 OHL teams do not make the playoffs – Sarnia is in position to be one of those teams, making sense that they’d sell off one of their better players to a North Bay team that’s fourth in the league’s Eastern Conference. Vilmanis’ 28 points through 30 games are third on the Sting in scoring.
  • The Canucks have loaned out left-wing prospect Josh Bloom back to juniors after he began the year in the minors, and the 20-year-old subsequently signed an OHL Scholarship and Development Agreement with the Saginaw Spirit. Bloom spent parts of four seasons in Saginaw from 2019 to 2023 before he was dealt to North Bay early last season, where he proceeded to rack up 25 goals and 55 points in 49 games while being a major factor on the penalty kill. Bloom, initially a third-round pick of the Sabres in 2021 whose NHL rights were traded to Vancouver last February, had just one assist in 14 games with AHL Abbotsford and two assists in eight games with ECHL Kalamazoo.
  • The Blue Jackets made Nova Scotia-born center Tyler Peddle the last pick of the 2023 NHL Draft nearly six months ago. He’s now been traded from the QMJHL’s Drummondville Voltigeurs to the Saint John Sea Dogs as he looks to jumpstart a highly discouraging post-draft campaign. Peddle, 18, notched 24 goals and 41 points in 64 games for Drummondville last season en route to his draft selection. This year, his scoring pace has decreased by almost 50% to just 14 points in 38 combined games between Drummondville and Saint John, the latter of whom he’s already played for once after the trade went through earlier this week. Peddle has not scored a goal in his last ten games and, if he can’t quickly get back on the scoresheet, is looking like a strong candidate to re-enter the NHL draft in 2025 and not earn an entry-level deal from Columbus in that time.

World Junior Notes: Donovan, Nelson, Molendyk, Luneau, Lindstein

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Senators prospect Jorian Donovan was cut by Team Canada at their World Juniors selection camp earlier this month but Hockey Canada announced (Twitter link) that the defenseman has been added to their roster along with Kraken defense prospect Ty Nelson, another player originally cut from their selection camp.

Donovan was a fifth-round pick of the Sens in 2022 and has eight goals and 26 points in 31 games with OHL Brantford so far this season.  He was notified of his addition on Friday and arrived in time for today’s 6-5 overtime loss to the United States in pre-tournament action and was named their Player of the Game.

As for Nelson, he was a third-round pick by the Kraken in 2022 and has been a prolific point producer with OHL North Bay.  Last season, he finished third in the league for points by a defenseman with 76 in 67 regular season games while adding 25 more in 20 playoff contests.  He’s producing at a similar rate this season with 31 points in his first 28 appearances.

Other news from the World Juniors:

  • Those two being added to the roster means that two players have to come off. Those are Predators blueliner Tanner Molendyk and Ducks defenseman Tristan Luneau who are both out due to injury.  Molendyk was dealing with a wrist issue while Luneau had missed pre-tournament games due to illness which has turned out to be a viral infection.  Molendyk was off to a nice start with WHL Saskatoon before making the team as he already has 28 points on his season in just 24 games.  Luneau, meanwhile, cracked Anaheim’s roster in training camp although playing time has been limited; he has played in seven games for the Ducks and six more while on a conditioning loan with AHL San Diego.
  • Team Sweden has also made a roster move for the upcoming World Juniors. They announced (Twitter link) that Blues defenseman Theo Lindstein has been added to their roster for the event, replacing Jakob Noren who was injured in pre-tournament action.  The 18-year-old was the 29th pick back in June and has spent the majority of this season in Sweden’s second-tier Allsvenskan level, recording 11 points in 27 games so far.  Louis now has seven prospects at the tournament, tied for the most among NHL teams with Arizona and Buffalo.

Ducks Recall Calle Clang, John Gibson To Non-Roster

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The Anaheim Ducks have announced the recall of goaltender Calle Clang from the San Diego Gulls of the AHL. The move comes as former all-star netminder John Gibson was moved to the Non-Roster to attend to the birth of his child.

The 21-year-old Clang is in his second season with San Diego after dressing in five games last year. This season has been ripe with learning as the native of Olofström, Sweden has struggled through 12 games, posting a 3.76 goals-against average to go along with a 2-7-2 record and a .882 save percentage. Despite the slow start to his professional career in North America, Clang remains a promising young prospect within the Ducks organization. He was originally a third-round pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins back in the 2020 NHL entry draft and was the central piece of the Rickard Rakell trade with the Penguins back in March 2022. The deadline deal saw Rakell head to Pittsburgh in exchange for Clang, Zach Aston-Reese, Dominik Simon and a 2022 second-round selection (Tristan Luneau).

Gibson dressed last night in the Ducks 5-1 win over the New Jersey Devils and left the game in the second period after stopping 18 of 19 shots. No word on what caused him to leave, but the Ducks are back in action tonight as they take on the Detroit Red Wings. With Gibson headed back home to celebrate the birth of his child, Clang will likely serve as the backup tonight as the Ducks look to keep it going after snapping their five-game losing streak last night.

Ducks Recall Robert Hagg, Tristan Luneau Loaned To Team Canada

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The Anaheim Ducks have announced that they’ve recalled defenseman Robert Hagg from the AHL. Hagg has spent the bulk of the season in the AHL with the San Diego Gulls where he has dressed in 15 games and has a goal and two assists. The veteran of 338 NHL games signed a one-year deal with the Ducks on July 4th and did spend time in the NHL, however, he has yet to dress in an NHL game for the Ducks.

The 28-year-old was once a promising prospect after he was drafted in the second round of the 2013 NHL entry draft by the Philadelphia Flyers. He made his debut with the Flyers back in 2016-17 and became a full-time NHLer the following year. Hagg stayed in the NHL for six full seasons but bounced around to four different organizations and often found himself to be a healthy scratch. As his career went on teams began to shelter his usage, often giving him the bulk of his starts in the offensive zone to try and set him up for success. This past offseason Hagg was able to secure a one-way NHL contract for the league minimum of $775K, however, thus far he has only seen action in the AHL.

Hagg was recalled to replace rookie defenseman Tristan Luneau who was loaned to Team Canada by the Ducks for the upcoming World Junior Championship. The 19-year-old was the Ducks’ second-round pick in 2022 and was recalled by the club back in November to make his NHL debut. So far this season in seven games, Luneau has a goal and two assists and has averaged almost 18 minutes a night in ice time.

Anaheim Ducks Recall Tristan Luneau From Loan

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Now that the conditioning loan requirements have been satisfied by defenseman Tristan Luneau, the Anaheim Ducks have announced he has been recalled from their AHL affiliate, the San Diego Gulls. Over the loan assignment, Luneau got into six games with San Diego, tallying two assists over that time.

No corresponding move is necessary, considering Luneau stayed on the Ducks’ 23-man roster while on the conditioning loan. The 2022 second-round pick has made the transition to pro hockey earlier than some expected, remaining on the Ducks’ NHL roster as he is not yet eligible for full-time assignment to the Gulls due to his January 2024 birthday. If the Ducks decide not to keep him on the NHL roster full-time, a likely eventual scenario considering he’s played just two games for them this season, they’ll need to return him to the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques at the junior level per the terms of the NHL-CHL transfer agreement.

Luneau, 19, last played for the Ducks on October 21 against the Coyotes. After sitting as a healthy scratch for the first two games of the season, he made back-to-back appearances against the Stars and Coyotes, recording a -1 rating, one shot on goal, and a poor 38.9% Corsi share at even strength while averaging 15:29 per game.

The Ducks will assumedly look to get Luneau into some games in the next few weeks. He can make seven more appearances before the first year of his entry-level contract goes into effect, and considering his limited role so far, it’s unlikely they keep him past that point.

That’s also because the Ducks have a pair of young defensemen, Jackson LaCombe and Pavel Mintyukov, who have solidified roster spots in the early going. LaCombe is logging over 20 minutes per game and earning top-pairing duties alongside Cam Fowler in the absence of Jamie Drysdale due to a lower-body injury, while Mintyukov leads all Ducks defensemen with ten points through 16 games. Thus, competition for a roster spot has become fierce on the Anaheim blueline. While Luneau certainly has a long NHL future ahead of him, there’s no longer a clear path to consistent playing time on the Ducks roster.

Ducks Activate Alex Killorn, Assign Robert Hagg To AHL

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The Ducks are welcoming back a key forward tonight as they announced that they have activated winger Alex Killorn from injured reserve.  To make room for him on the roster, defenseman Robert Hagg was returned to AHL San Diego.

Killorn landed the richest deal for a forward in free agency last summer with Anaheim inking the 34-year-old to a four-year, $25MM agreement.  He was coming off a career year with Tampa Bay, one that saw him record 27 goals and 37 assists in 82 games while adding five points in six playoff contests against Toronto.

While the Ducks aren’t expected to be contending in the short term, GM Pat Verbeek clearly prioritized adding some veterans to what was (and still is) a pretty young roster and was hoping that Killorn would line up in a prominent role to start the season.  Instead, he suffered a fractured finger during the preseason, one that kept him out of the lineup for nearly five weeks.

As for Hagg, he was recalled just yesterday so his time with the big club was certainly short-lived.  He was brought up to serve as an extra defender with Tristan Luneau on a conditioning assignment but as Luneau remains part of Anaheim’s active roster while with San Diego, the Ducks needed Hagg’s roster spot to activate Killorn in advance of tonight’s game against Vegas.  He has played in three games for the Gulls so far this season.

Anaheim Ducks Assign Alex Stalock, Tristan Luneau To AHL

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The Anaheim Ducks have trimmed their roster by two, sending goaltender Alex Stalock and defenseman Tristan Luneau to the AHL’s San Diego Gulls. Luneau, 19, is not yet eligible for full-time assignment to the AHL and will play his first games for the Gulls on a conditioning stint.

Anaheim doesn’t suit up again until Sunday against the Golden Knights, so these moves could just be to get Stalock and Luneau some playing time in the minors over the next few days. The Ducks brought Stalock up to the NHL roster under emergency conditions on Wednesday after starter John Gibson exited Monday’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins with an upper-body injury. Listed as day-to-day, Gibson remains on the active roster but did not dress for Wednesday’s overtime win over the Arizona Coyotes.

Stalock, 36, signed a one-year deal worth $800K in the offseason to provide depth and competition for the backup role behind Gibson with youngster Lukáš Dostál. Dostál won the job in camp, however, and he hasn’t looked back. The 23-year-old was named the NHL’s Rookie of the Month for October and has posted a 5-1-0 record in six appearances, boasting an exemplary .920 SV%, although he’s still looking for his first NHL shutout.

The veteran Stalock has battled back from multiple severe injuries in the past few years, including complications from long COVID and a severe concussion sustained last season while playing with the Chicago Blackhawks. Selected by the San Jose Sharks in the fourth round of the 2005 NHL Draft, Stalock has a 2.74 GAA, .919 SV% and a 1-2-0 record in three appearances with the Gulls this season.

Luneau, who projects as a fixture on the Ducks’ power play for years to come, made the team out of camp after signing his entry-level contract in September. After recording 83 points in 65 games with the QMJHL’s Gatineau Olympiques last season, he’s been a healthy scratch in eight of ten games with the Ducks and hasn’t played since October 21 against Arizona. He can head to San Diego for a maximum of two weeks and five games, after which he must be recalled to the Ducks or returned to Gatineau.

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